Please fire me. I work at a small bookstore in an airport. Because of our limited space, weâre very strict about what titles we carry: we only keep books that sell. Sales are carefully monitored and if something isnât selling at a sustainable rate, itâs pulled from the shelves.
One book we donât sell is the Bible. We periodically have customers asking for a Bible, but aside from mild annoyance, they rarely make an issue when we inform them we donât have any. However, I had a customer come in a few weeks ago and ask where we kept our Bibles.
âIâm sorry, we donât carry any Bibles,â I told her.
âWhy not?â she demanded.
âOur store is small and we donât have the room for them,â I said.
âNo room, huh?â she said. She pointed to a book on display called Ghost Bride. âBut you have room for books on ghosts?â
âItâs one of our staff picks for the month.â It was my staff pick, actually. âIf youâre interested, we do have a small religion section.â
She grumbled a bit, but let me take her to the shelf of religion books to browse. She returned to the register a few moments later with a used copy of A Purpose-Driven Life. I rang up her book and handed it to her, thanking her for her purchase. She lingered by the register, packing her book into her luggage, gathering up her bags, checking to make sure she had her boarding pass and ID.
Once she was all situated, she straightened, looked me in the eyes and announced, âI will PRAY for this store,â and swept out.
The next day I told this story to a coworker whoâs been at our location for 7 years. After Iâd finished the story (and heâd finished rolling his eyes), I said, âWhy donât we have any Bibles? Enough people ask for one, Iâd think weâd be able to sell a copy or two.â
âWe used to have Bibles,â he said, âbut they barely sold. People would come in and ask for one, but not buy it. They were just checking to make sure we had them. I think we were being tested.â